Edinburgh Botanical Garden 
2 Installations, 1998

      Tree Scaffold and Microcosmos, were both made specifically for the exhibition Glass at the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh during the summer and fall of 1998. 12 international glass artist were invited to produce site-specific work for the glasshouses. My art work were installed in the South American Aquatic House.

     Microcosmos, consisted of glass bubbles filled with water, which worked as small lenses magnifying the ground they rested on. In fact, historically this is how the first lenses were made, before better glass quality became available. 14 lenses were placed around the glasshouse and intended to attract the audience to look at the ground at small insects and life not seen from above.

      In the other part of the installation; Tree Scaffold, a total of 5 "scaffolds" appear to hold up the branches of a tree growing on a small island in a pond, representing the Amazon delta. The piece consists of up to 5 meter long glass tubing, held together with natural rubber bands, as to mimic the capillary tubes inside the tree. The piece is a comment on the fragile ecosystem of our rain forests although, the audience seemed to believe it was part of the maintenance of the glasshouse.

      However, during the exhibition the rubber bands were eaten by the ants that lives in the greenhouse, and in september the scaffolds started collapsing! The insects I intended to honor became part of the artwork itself.